Blue Plate Special

1970 Triumph TR-6

Tips from Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car

It's a big jump from Saturn sedans to vintage British sports cars, yet Robert and Patricia Dennis made that leap. "Cars didn't interest me much in high school or college," says Robert Dennis of Burbank, California. "I've driven hand-me-downs or Saturns, and not even my college training as an emergency and evasive driving techniques instructor infected me with the car bug." Living within minutes of the world-famous, weekly Bob's Big Boy car show and near Hollywood studios where all manner of old cars are wheeled about town by the rich and beautiful made no impact.

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His wife, Patricia, was another matter. "Little did I know when we married that she was a 'car guy' herself; turns out Patricia owned a TR2 when in college, and always yearned to return to the days of short circuits and bendy frames." Fate struck when, in 2005, the Dennises were sitting in a BMW Z4 roadster when the Saturn dealer called to deliver the terminal diagnosis on the Spring Hill Special; they bought the Z4 they were sitting in and called it a day. Once infected with the sports car bug, "the ghost of Lucas kept tapping Patricia on the shoulder," says Robert, whose best friend had picked up and semi-restored a TR6 not long before.
Dennis calls it a conspiracy, the notion that one day they'd have a restoration project on their hands, and when the 1970 Triumph TR6 seen here surfaced in the classified pages of the Daily Variety, they went right away. "The second I saw it bathed in the last light of day, and the second I saw my wife Patricia's reaction to it, I knew we were on the hook." The owner, a longtime motion-picture production coordinator, was preparing to retire to Hawaii. Although the owner was English, and was living in England at the time, she bought an export model with left-hand drive, since she was coming to work here, "so there is the occasional small bit which reflects its British origin--holes for European plates, for example, as well as mountings for U.S. plates." It also had two sought-after options: the factory lift-off hardtop, and overdrive. After a protracted haggle that lasted two weeks, they drove it home.
"As far as I could tell, the car was in original, unrestored condition (except for one repaint). It seemed like it had good bones. But then I knew absolutely nothing about Triumphs. I did no research, read no books or articles, made no car club visits. I knew enough to look for the obvious like signs of rust, accidents or other calamity. As to wear, well, I figured my eye would be a good judge, regardless of its education or lack thereof. But I didn't even call my buddy with the TR6 in advance to ask him a question or two." Caveat emptor, and all that....
"The dash was cracked and finish faded from constant sun exposure; the owner rarely put the top up on the car, and it was indeed very stiff as we unfurled the top to check its function. The interior suffered as a result--not only the dash, but the entire interior was in poor condition. The carpet was falling apart, the door seals were disintegrating...the seat foam and supporting diaphragms were so shot that my backside impacted on the seat frame during the test drive, and I injured a leg muscle from bouncing along poorly maintained LA roads. The muscle ultimately froze up and required weeks of physical therapy to fix!" Not a grand start, then.
Short-term, the goal was to "whip it around the beautiful Southern California mountain backroads" until they sorted out how to approach the restoration; that answer came in December of 2007, when the Dennises went with recommendations from friends they'd made in the local Triumph clubs, and dropped their baby off with British sports car specialist Dave Wellwood at his shop in Ventura, California. (It takes wise people to know when they're in over their heads on something.) Though not a body-off restoration, Dave did stitch in new floors, rebuild the engine, and execute a color change inside and out--all within five months, start to finish. The result is indistinguishable from new.
The nuts-and-bolts of it are discussed in the pictures, but the color change was a fairly conscious effort, and "we took some pains to coordinate things," Wellwood tells us. "First, we had a lot of British Racing Greens to choose from--even within marques they changed from year to year. This is the correct BRG for a 1970 Triumph." He also endeavors to use locally made products wherever he can: "I used a primer called Direct to Metal, or DTM, Extreme High-Build Primer. It's a strong urethane primer."
Inside, swapping out the factory teak instrument panel for an aftermarket burled walnut piece was only the beginning. "Patricia was very particular about having the correct look for everything--the newly added wood wheel and shift knob coordinated with the dash, and all were coordinated with the new interior panels, the Moss Motors leather seat kit and the Wilton wool carpeting. We worked off samples to make sure everyone was happy before it all went together." The Sta-Fast cloth top and tonneau also feel original but will wear better.
The engine had never been apart in its 118,000 miles--and it was showing its age. "It was totally worn out. We went through it completely--bored the block .020-over, reused the standard crank, which was in good shape, and there was an oiling problem that ruined the rocker shaft in the head, so we needed to replace that. We didn't go with roller rockers since they didn't add that much in terms of power. We also went with a Good Parts GP2 cam--it's made from chilled iron billet, and offers both more torque and top-end--it's not a high-revving cam and is good up to about 5,500 rpm. Doesn't sound bad, either!" Between the camshaft and the balanced reciprocating assembly, Wellwood figured he freed up something in the neighborhood of 20 horsepower. Best of all, the rest of the driveline went unfussed with.
Wiring, so often a crapshoot on these cars, is something that Wellwood is more confident about. "I moved here from British Columbia, where it rains a lot, and California cars are generally in excellent shape. We do rewire cars, but this one didn't need it. We went through the electrics mainly to get everything functioning, but it didn't suffer from fuse box and connection corrosion like so many East Coast cars do. We just replaced some relays and such." Wellwood managed to turn this TR6 around in just five months--including a short vacation.
Having gone through this now, the Dennises learned some things. "We would allow for a bigger budget and longer timeline to enable a full frame-off restoration; though this was a successful restoration with fabulous results, the car would benefit from some extra 'tightening.' It was a bit too far a reach for us, I think, given the added cost. But the car and our driving experience would benefit from a full body-off--replacement, for example, of all the body mounts would lead to a more solid feel on the road. And I think with that, we would look at complete wiring harness replacement, too--try to drive out a few more of those Lucas 'Prince of Darkness' bugs!" They also encourage joining local marque-specific car clubs. Also, "don't be afraid to make the car your own! Triumphs are plentiful enough so that modifications away from original do not hurt the value of the car. Change-outs to more modern transmissions are another great modification if you are not fortunate as we were to find a car with overdrive." He also espouses the hardtop option.
"Dave's most difficult work proved to be in realigning the fit of the doors and other panels to be better than factory. As for my most difficult challenge--well, that was writing the checks!"
PHOTO 1
The TR6 as the Dennises found it in 2005: 118,000 original-owner miles, resprayed once, and tired. Still, the owner had a Triumph in her college years, and the lure of another, done to her taste, was strong.
PHOTO 2
Original owner barely ever put the top up, and the interior had grown brittle with exposure to sunlight. All soft parts would be replaced, but the real horror was what lay beneath the carpet.
PHOTO 3
Taking the paint off with an 80-grade disc and a power sander at home, the body was found to be clean and rot-free. Minor incidental damage was tapped out, then skim-coated with Evercoat Z-Grip body filler.
PHOTO 4
The transmission had come out previously for some work; other than adding in some fasteners that had mysteriously been left off, Wellwood left it (and the stock rearend) alone. Desirable overdrive unit worked fine.
PHOTO 5
The low-revving 105hp 2.5-liter six was understressed in the sub-2,500-pound roadster, and ran fine after 118,000 miles despite a ruined rocker-arm assembly that had been under-oiled for years.
PHOTO 6
Of all the available bits for the Triumph TR6, taillamps are not among them; good ones are hard to source but still available. Dave Wellwood picked from his stash to replace the rear lights on the Dennises' machine.
PHOTO 7
A leaky windshield and storage under a tarp that prevented evaporation meant that this particular TR6 had floors that rusted from the top down, rather than from the bottom up. Still, rot is rot, and away it goes.
PHOTO 8
This would be cut out with a die grinder and a 3-inch cutoff blade, the floorpan would be hammered to fit, the edges remaining on the car will be ground clean, then the new floorpan would be MIG welded into place.
PHOTO 9
"The bad name Lucas has is unwarranted," Wellwood contends. "Usually [the problem is] either corrosion or previous owners." This TR6 was not rewired, although some relays were replaced. The fuse box was clean.
PHOTO 10
"We replaced the trunk floor too...one of the replacement rear shocks had broken, and the shock arm came through the floor and just missed the gas tank." The repair was executed in the manner of the cabin floors.
PHOTO 11
"The driver's side front side was very bad for a California car, though it's not bad in terms of the rest of the country," Wellwood claims. "We've repaired far worse." Moss Motors offers correct replacement floorpans.
PHOTO 12
Disintegrated weather stripping was the next thing to go. "Mostly the doors don't fit, particularly on a car that's rusty or has been hammered," says Wellwood.
PHOTO 13
The twin Strombergs were rebuilt, out of necessity: "Early Strombergs are non-adjustable, so you have to rebuild them." They were balanced and synchronized, then polished and detailed before reinstalling.
PHOTO 14
"The toughest part of restoring one of these is aligning the hood and fenders, admits Wellwood. "They fit poorly from the factory--they take hours to line up. It's the most tedious part of restoring one of these."
PHOTO 15
The straight body was given three coats of a DuPont primer, applied with a DeVilbiss HVLP gun and a 7.5hp Ingersoll/Rand compressor. Top coat was sanded with 220-grade, 320-grade and a wet 600-grade paper.
PHOTO 16
Three coats of correct 1970 Triumph DuPont British Racing Green chroma-base were applied, the top of which was sanded 1200/1500/2000-grade; three coats of clear, color-sanded with the same grades, lay atop the color.
PHOTO 17
The straight bumpers were rechromed in lieu of repolishing; Wellwood uses Verne's Plating in Gardena, California. Some other smaller pieces, like headlamp trim rings and (period-incorrect) wheel knockoffs, were replaced.
PHOTO 18
New tan Wilton wool carpet and tan door and inner panels transformed the look of the interior. Even new inertia-reel seatbelts and tan leather emergency-brake cover were added.
PHOTO 19
Replacing the original teak dash was a new burled walnut fascia. "Burled walnut was available in earlier Triumphs, but not the TR6," explains restorer Wellwood. "No one seems to complain since they're so pretty."
PHOTO 20
Pulling out the engine allowed neat execution of the color change. Besides the full mechanical rebuilt and .020-overbore, Wellwood also added PerTronix electronic ignition and a Good Parts GP2 cam to the powerplant.

This article originally appeared in the January, 2009 issue of Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car.